Columbia River hatchery investments fail native fish
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A sockeye salmon. Photo: Mark Conlin/VW PICS/UIG via Getty Images
Wild populations of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin continue to decline despite decades of spending to try to save the species, according to a recent study from Oregon State University and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Why it matters: Researchers found that hatcheries and habitat restoration efforts dating back 40 years cost taxpayers an estimated $9 billion (adjusted for inflation), but were unsuccessful in boosting native fish populations.
What they found: OSU economics professor William Jaeger and USGS biologist Mark Scheuerell examined decades of return data from the Bonneville Dam — the first dam salmon and steelhead meet along the Columbia River when returning to lay their eggs after spending several years in the Pacific Ocean.
- While the number of hatchery salmon and steelhead passing through the Bonneville Dam grew since 1970, wild populations did not.
- Researchers found 80% of the salmon that return to the Columbia River as adults came from hatcheries.
Separately, hatchery production caused a negative impact on wild stocks of salmon "through a variety of mechanisms including competition for habitat, food supply, genetic effects and disease," the authors wrote.
- In some cases, wild fish were even being preyed upon by hatchery-born fish.
Context: Overfishing contributed to the decline in native salmon and steelhead populations since the 1800s, prompting the creation of over 200 hatcheries along the Columbia River Basin.
- In the 1990s, 13 species of salmon in the Columbia River Basin were listed as endangered species, which in turn funneled additional billions of dollars (not included in the $9 billion studied) to local and tribal organizations to create safe passage for fish, which have been struggling to adapt to warmer water.
What they're saying: "Overall, given the mix of spending activities and the hatchery programs, we do not see evidence of a positive effect on wild fish," Jaeger told Axios in an email.
What's next: Last week, Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill allocating $1 million and tapping a third-party assessor to examine the costs and benefits of the state's hatchery programs.